Music-loving Scots drive demand for digital revolution

Around one fifth of people living in Glasgow and Edinburgh have streamed music on digital services like Spotify in the past month, according to new research.

Published:11:00Saturday 20 August 2016

Central Belt Scots are amongst the UK’s top music streamers according to recent research by leading pure fibre infrastructure provider, CityFibre.

The company, which is currently leading 12 Gigabit City projects across the UK, found that around one fifth of people living in Glasgow and Edinburgh have streamed music on digital services like Spotify in the past month.

This is a signal of the increasing demand for data which requires greater network capacity.

The region was second only to London where 22.5 per cent have used the service.

More than 3.6million Britons currently subscribe to the service, with males between the ages of 18 and 24 years showing the greatest demand. Across the UK as a whole, around three quarters of the population stream content on a regular basis, indicating that entertainment is one of the strongest drivers of data consumption leading to higher levels of demand on existing telecoms infrastructure.

James McClafferty, Head of Regional Development at CityFibre in Scotland, commented: “Digital connectivity has become a vital component of modern day life, and it seems that Scotland has one of the most web-savvy populations in Europe.

“With around 60 per cent of the population on social platforms, and over 3 million regular streamers, Scotland is ‘hooked’ on digital services, but despite this, the country has some of the poorest broadband infrastructure provision in the UK.

“The high usage of music streaming sites such as Spotify in Glasgow and Edinburgh means that older infrastructure, particularly copper networks, will fast become incapable of meeting demand from all users including businesses and public services. This only confirms the need to accelerate the roll out of better, faster and future-proofed networks across Scotland.”

As a leading builder of pure fibre infrastructure, CityFibre has reacted to the nation’s need for ultra-fast digital connectivity by transforming Scotland’s largest cities into Gigabit Cities.

Stockholm, the home of Spotify, became the world’s first Gigabit City in 1994 following the launch of Stokab, a citywide wholesale fibre network. The network has catalysed major economic development and delivered circa €2m return on investment. The city is now considered one of the best connected cities in the world.

CityFibre is working in partnership with service providers including Commsworld, Converged, HighNet and Internet for Business to bring gigabit speeds to countless businesses, public sector sites, schools, hospitals and universities across Scotland.

Over the next year the company will continue to accelerate the digital revolution in Scotland bringing essential world-class connectivity to additional areas across the country.

Gigabit City projects are currently underway in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

For more information about CityFibre and the company’s current projects, visit www.cityfibre.com